World Cup Frenzy Has Whet Germans’ Thirst for Beer

A fan wearing a hat in the German national colours poses in a beer garden during the broadcast of the FIFA World Cup match Germany vs Portugual in Munich, Germany.

European Pressphoto Agency

FRANKFURT–German beer consumption looks ready to end a dry spell, with World Cup frenzy whetting the appetite for the country’s renowned beers.

Though famous for its annual Oktoberfest drinking bash, Germany has seen beer sales fizzle out over the past decades. Soccer mania looks set to change that, the national Brewers Federation said this week, and breweries are putting in overtime to keep up with demand.

Beer sales in Germany have steadily declined over the last 25 years, as the society becomes more health conscious and the population ages. An older population means fewer young people knocking back beers with their friends, while laws forbidding alcohol in workplaces have also taken a toll on sales, the brewery group said.

Per head, Germans drank about 106.6 liters of beer last year, some 10 liters less than in 2004, the group said.

The World Cup might be just the IV drip the doctor ordered to revive consumption, at least in the short term.

“When events like the World Cup, or better – good German games – combine with good weather, it can have a special effect like what we saw in 2006,” said Marc-Oliver Huhnholz, a spokesman for the brewers group. The German team’s good showing in the World Cup that year helped beer sales rise 1.4%.

“We’re talking about the summer fairy tale games, which will hopefully be repeated,” he said, referring to the 2006 games.

Beer sales by volume in Germany bumped up 4.5% in the first quarter this year, compared with the same period a year earlier. At that rate, 2014 sales look set to outpace last year, which would mark the first time since 2006 that sales show an annual increase. These are welcome figures to the 1,300 beer breweries in Germany, now working extra hours to accommodate Germans celebrating their national team in the ‘biergarten.’

German success in upcoming games would up sales further, but even if the national team doesn’t make it through the next round, the end of the tournament won’t be the end of the world.

“The World Cup has certainly helped boost business, and especially so when Germany plays,” said Georg-Augustin Schmidt, managing partner of the Frankfurt brewery BrauStil. But the German team’s participation is not essential, with enthusiasm for the games overall the larger factor.

German brewers stress that even if beer consumption has been declining over the longer term, the country is still in the drinking fore compared to rest of the world.

“These four weeks are not necessarily crucial to the business, but do help to provide a little extra dough,” Mr. Schmidt said.

Germany is famous for its so-called beer purity law, which mandates that only water, hops, malt, and yeast are used to brew beer. German brewers have nominated the nearly 500-year old law for inclusion in Unesco’s cultural heritage list.

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